La Pine News

Two new schools are on Bend's horizon after voters approved a $96 million Bend La-Pine Schools bond Tuesday to fund their construction.

Bend-La Pine Schools asked voters for $98 million Tuesday night in a bond to pay for two new schools and many other projects.

A La Pine mushroom hunter who got lost west of town and failed to return to his companions' meeting Tuesday night prompted a search in the cold, snowy woods west of town that found him hours later - cold, wet and tired but otherwise okay, authorities said.

Far fewer than half of Central Oregon voters returned their mail ballots for Tuesday's special election.

It is not often one has the opportunity to elect a candidate that will make a difference.

Given favorable conditions, Deschutes National Forest fuels specialists on the Bend-Ft. Rock Ranger District, in coordination with researchers from the Pacific Northwest Research Station, plan to conduct a large prescribed burn southwest of Sunriver and northwest of La Pine, in the Pringle Falls Experimental Forest over the next three days.

La Pine resident Barbara Brainard thought momentarily, considering whether she would vote in favor of a $96 million bond to fund capital improvements for Bend-La Pine Schools.

An 81-year-old La Pine man died when his car left Huntington Road and crashed into a tree Thursday evening, Deschutes County sheriff's deputies said.

The Deschutes County Sheriff's Office's LEADER limo will be used Friday to reward a fifth-grade class at La Pine Elementary School for turning in money they found.

As a director of the La Pine Rural Fire Protection District and a resident in the district, I urge my fellow voters to vote yes on Measure 9-90 to renew funding for the replacement of equipment at the same tax rate as we are currently paying.

A roadside bomb killed five U.S. Army soldiers, including Spc. Brandon Joseph Prescott, 24, of Bend, Saturday in Afghanistan, the U.S. Army announced Monday.

An area scorched by a 168-acre wildfire near La Pine could continue to put up smoke this week as firefighters snuff out smoldering fires near the burn perimeter.

The Oregon Department of Forestry reported around 20 fires in the last few days.

The Burgess Road Fire forced evacuations for a few hours on Saturday afternoon for about two-dozen residents of the Crescent Creek subdivision near La Pine.

The Central Oregon Interagency Dispatch Center says a 168-acre wildfire ignited by a downed power line is 75 percent contained.

Saturday's La Pine-area wildfires "provided a frightening, yet positive example of why hazardous fuels reduction is so important to improving the fire resilience of our landscapes and protecting our communities," a Project Wildfire representative said Sunday.

After about 50 homes were evacuated midafternoon Saturday, residents of the Crescent Creek neighborhood in La Pine were being allowed back into their homes that night as firefighters gained control over a wildfire sparked by a downed power line near Rosland Elementary School off Burgess Road.

Numerous trees fell in south Deschutes County during Saturday, May 4 windstorm, and some snapped power lines -- one sparking a fast-moving wildfire off Burgess Road.

Winds gusting to 40 mph wreaked havoc on parts of Central Oregon Saturday, toppling trees that blocked roads and downing power lines that sparked wildfires and forced the evacuation of several dozen homes.

The Bend Fire Department is expected in force for a memorial to one of its own Saturday, interim Fire Chief Larry Langston said.